McLaughlin wins big in the Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge

Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Armstrong have finished in the money in this morning’s IndyCar 20-lap All-Star race in the Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge.

McLaughlin nets a cool US$350,000 (NZ$583,000) for finishing second, while Armstrong’s fifth was the last place of the paying positions and secured US$50,000 (NZ$83,300).

Alex Palou dominated the main event proceedings, winning by 5.79 seconds to claim US$500,000.

McLaughlin and Armstrong were the two Kiwis to make the final of the non-points event, finishing in the top six in their respective heats, having both qualified on the front row on Sunday.

Palou started on pole for the feature and got an excellent launch to lead early, while McLaughlin quickly jumped to second from fourth.

Colton Herta and Christian Lundgaard began from the rear of the grid, taking emergency service after their heats.

The field quickly spread over the opening ten laps, attempting to conserve tyres with no changes permitted in the mid-race half-time break.

In the first half, Palou quickly built a sizeable advantage over McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, Armstrong, and Josef Newgarden, which remained the order at the intermission.

Graham Rahal retired mid-race with his throttle sticking, while Pietro Fittipaldi was disqualified for his team’s failure to follow fueling rules before the green flag.

Lungaard also dropped to the rear of the field, requiring emergency service during the break.

Palou led McLaughlin to green for the second 10 laps as battles erupted through the mid-field, with Alexander Rossi climbing to sixth and applying pressure to Newgarden.

The two made contact on Lap 13 at Turn 2, running wide and allowing Herta to sneak through into the paying positions.

The Andretti Global driver’s charge from the rear of the grid continued, and Armstrong was his next target. The Californian-local was able to take the position entering the final few circuits.

Up front, Palou was unchallenged, and he pulled to an insurmountable advantage to take the win over McLaughlin, who in turn had pulled over three seconds clear of Rosenqvist. Herta finished fourth, 3.5 seconds outside the podium, while Armstrong completed the paying positions.

Rosenqvist had earlier led Heat 1 to green, escaping the chaos behind as Herta knocked wheels with Scott Dixon, who ran into Romain Grosjean’s rear.

The former Formula 1 driver spun through the grass and collected an innocent Rinus Veekay at the apex of Turn 1. Australia’s Will Power was forced to the runoff area to escape contact, dropping to the rear.

Veekay and Grosjean were forced out, while Dixon was slapped with a drive-through penalty he would not recover from.

The six drivers who progressed from Heat 1 were Rosenqvist, McLaughlin, Newgarden, Lundgaard, Agustin Canapino, and Herta, respectively.

Heat 2 was a cleaner affair, with Palou leading Armstrong, Rahal, Linus Lundqvist, Fittipaldi, and Rossi home.

Tom Blomqvist and the McLarens of Rossi, Pato O’Ward, and Callum Ilott fought hard for the final spot in the All-Star race. The Kiwi fought admirably but eventually lost out to Rossi and O’Ward for eighth.

IndyCar returns on April 21 with the Grand Prix of Long Beach in California.